The latest album from local dub heavyweights Resonators comes out this Friday on Wah Wah 45s. Their third full length studio recording has been almost four years coming. During that time, they’ve played only infrequently – but far from growing rusty, they spent this time consistently writing and practising, if the album’s anything to go by, and now they’re more tight than ever.
Overall, and unsurprisingly, it’s an incredibly smooth and laid-back album. Their approach to songwriting feels calm, confident and secure, as you would expect from a band who are now old hands; it’s a style that can only come with experience. In terms of message, most of the album is buoyant and optimistic, sunny and infused with brightness. The single ‘Healer’, which has already been released, gives a good picture of the album as a whole, with its layered vocals and smiling horns. Likewise ‘Right Time’ is cheerful and carefree, a feel-good callback to the style of ‘Sweet Love Affair’ that’s proved so successful for them in the past.
Having said that, the band don’t shy away from darker themes. Immediately after ‘Right Time’ is ‘Come Through’, the most sombre track on the album. With foreboding horns, the song builds ominously – but eventually builds to an intensely satisfying release, which brings the message back to one of hope and resolution. ‘Trees’ also steps away from the optimistic feel, warning about the importance of conservationism.
The album itself is brilliantly recorded, very clean and measured, with no one element overpowering the rest. The bass has to be the centrepiece, but all the band sit well together – another benefit of the band’s long experience. Of course, everything is drenched in a luscious helping of reverb, but it’s par for the course. The horns are always subtle and complementary, and often sound exotic, as in ‘All the Paths’. Vocalists Faye Houston and Kassia Zermon share the mics and harmonise wonderfully throughout, backed by keys and drums who are happy to stay in the background.
It’s like there’s no ego in the band to throw anything off balance. All the members form part of a backdrop that’s as understated as it is polished. One of the most satisfying aspects to the album is that it keeps giving up surprises: repeated listens reveal that each instrument is adding more than is immediately obvious: listen for the quiet guitar licks on ‘Healer’ and the organ at the bottom of ‘Trees’.
With this album, if they hadn’t before, Resonators have wrapped up their genre and put a bow on it. They do what they do to an extremely high standard, and have come out with an album that will be intensely enjoyable for dub fans. It’s constructed attentively, giving it a unified texture and one that definitively nails their sound. This makes it a great dub album in a general sense – at the same time, it has enough personal touches that it’s both exemplary and intimate.
